Surf and Turf Dinner for 4 less than $15

I'm doing a simple surf and turf dinner tonight for the family. Chuck steaks, salmon fillets, steamed veggies, and a quickie scallopped style potatoe. The steak and salmon were each less than $5 a pack for four pieces at Walmart. For the potatoes I scrub them, pricked all over and nuked until just tender. Then I sliced them, placed into a buttered pan, topped with bechamel sauce, and sprinkled with cheese. My bechamel (white sauce) recipe is below. You could add in about a cup of shredded cheese to make your own cheese sauce as well. The meat and potatoes both baked at 450* for 10 minutes before being served. The steak and salmon was perfectly cooked. The potatoes had a slight browning around the edges as well...

Bechemel Sauce
2tbsp butter
2tbsp flour
1 1/2cu milk, warmed
herbs and seasonings

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add in the flour. Cook while stirring for 1-2 minutes until well combined.

2. Add in your herbs/seasonings and slowly whisk in the warm milk. Cook for another 5 minutes or until thickened making sure to stir regularly. I used two whole basil leaves, three smashed garlic cloves, salt, and pepper to season my bechemel sauce. I removed the basil leaves and garlic cloves before pouring over the potatoes for a hint of flavor. If the sauce is too thick just whisk in a bit more milk. If it is too thin cook it down some more.

These are the steaks and salmon fillets. Just simple seasonings on the steaks. The salmon is brushed with honey mustard and sprinkled with seasonings before they're both baked right on the same sheet.

Make enough potatoes so that you have an even layer in the pan you're baking them in. Normally you'll spend about an hour making scalloped potatoes, but these are ready in 20 minutes or less.

After you pour the bechemel sauce over the cheese and potatoes it's ready for the oven!

Less than 20 minutes and this dinner is served!

Crab Wontons

Tonight is Asian night here, so I decided to make my favorite appetizer crab wontons. These are much easier to make than you would expect. I try to eat semi-healthy, so instead of deep frying them I bake them. They have a satisfying crunch to them still, but there's much less fat to them. And please, use the real crab. You can get some pretty cheap canned crab from the same aisle your tuna is on. It taste much better than the imitation crab! Don't worry about the filling oozing out of my wontons in the final picture. Remember, I cook using lactose substitutes and vegan cream cheese isn't the same texture as "real" cream cheese when it's heated. My 5yo described these as scrumptious so they're definitely kid approved!

2 6oz cans crab meat, drained
8oz softened cream cheese
Few dashes of soy sauce
Sprinking of garlic salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup green onion
Wonton wraps

1. Preheat oven to 425* and spray baking sheet with oil. Season the cream cheese to your personal taste with garlic salt and soy sauce. Not too salty, but with some flavor.

2. Fold in the crab meat. Place a tablespoon of the mixture in the center of the wonton wrapper,  rub a moistened finger along the edges and fold according to instructions. It doesn't matter how they look. You just want it so the delicious filling won't ooze out.

3. Place onto baking sheet and spray with oil. Bake until golden brown and enjoy! I like mine served with sweet chili sauce on the side.